Matric Dance Dress.

Exciting times for the youngest Miss Suzy Q, as the pinnacle of her school career looms larger than life. Yessirree, her matric dance is a mere two months away, and we have not seen anything in the stores which looks even halfway decent for her to wear on her big night.  I must say that a lot of shops are seriously missing out on a large and lucrative market by stocking short dresses only, but be that as it may, we need to find something fast. Now I'm sure that my few loyal fans (for which, as always, a great big "Thank You") imagine Suzy Q looking glam on a daily basis, doing the dusting in a revealing negligee and not much else, but if truth be know, fashion has never been a major concession of mine. Reasons various: possibly because I didn't have the resources to indulge a fashion passion, or because I was a bit of a tomboy, and jeans and tackies and t-shirts were, and still are my staples. Suffice to say, I've never really got the girly thing, and would rather spend any spare cash on travel and hedonism than on a Louis Vuitton clutch or a pair of unwearable Jimmy Choos. I also  made my own matric dance dress out of Hawaii print fabric, having once been a bit of a surfing bunny, so this whole lavish extravaganza is a bit new to me.

Not so the little Suzy Q's. They luuurv killer heels, skimpy little dresses and designer labels, so with wallet in hand, I'm learning from these two fashionistas. Miss SQ No 1, somewhat surprisingly, found the perfect matric dance dress at Monsoon during the December holidays, at well under R1000, which I'm told is a modern miracle. Being so fortunate of face and figure (I wonder where she gets it from...?) she stole the show at her dance and was quite Cinderella at the ball, outshining many an extravagant designer gown. Whew, we clearly got off lightly there. However, there is still the current dress problem to solve.

When in doubt, ask the Pilates pals. As I no doubt mentioned before, we share tips and ideas and laughs but, mercifully, not intimate secrets, so it's all smooth sailing, well at least until the annual awards ceremony, when a few miniature knives have been know to come out. I got the number of a great designer, "he who dresses parliamentarians and their wives," so I'm hopeful that he might have a tiny bit of fabric over from all the bales they buy and get some of my tax back. We embarked upon a whole new adventure, going to see him this morning with a few pictures and ideas in mind. He must surely delight to work with such young and easy to dress material, for he sketched my daughter with a few design ideas until she liked what she saw. It was fascinating watching his ideas emerge from the end of his pencil, and reminded me of the magic paint books we used to play with, when the picture appeared with a water application. Such fun! He then measured what little there is of her, draped her in fabric till we found the right colour and fall, and we're totally in thrall.

Can't wait to go back and check on progress (that's if I don't drop dead from the final quote...!?) 


A very excited,


Suzy Q